Monday, August 12, 2013

Turners in Paraguay

The Turners Explore Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina

We begged and begged my parents to come visit and they finally came in May!  Yes, we have only lived here since January... but we wanted to see them and explore with them!  Kinley and Turner were in heaven to have them here.  My dad and Kinley spent hours and hours by the pool.  They even got in, even though it was freezing!!!  Kinley got a cute little bikini line after being outside for not long at all!  She has great skin.  So jealous! :)

There is not a ton to do around Asuncion, but we were able to go to Aregua and walk around one day and we went on a big trip to Iguazu Falls (without the kids!).  So I think their trip was worth it!

AREGUA
A cute little town about 45 minutes outside of Asuncion.  The streets are lined with pottery.  Some of it is really cool, some of it is not!  You will notice I didnt take any pictures of the pottery  I guess I was underwhelmed.  But you will sure see pictures of the food!!

Waiting to eat at a cute restaurant that was recommended to us.

Gigantic salad and the most amazing fresh juice!

They had to bring another table because we had so much food!

Sleepy guy
Their famous paella
My mom and dad were not too enthused about the paella.  They are pretty adventurous eaters, but dont like calamari or mussels and there was a lot of that in there!!
Kinley spent most of her time running around with the owners little boy chasing puppies, cats, and birds!  After lunch we drove to the lake and walked around the park.
Two peas in a pod


lounging


Choo choo (dont worry, my mom is holding him from behind!)



IGUAZU FALLS
We took a great trip to Iguazu Falls over Mothers Day weekend.  We left the kids at home with Maria (so grateful for her) and headed off on a BUS!!!  Yes, you heard that right.  Can you believe that Ronnie Turner rode on a bus for 7+ hours!?!?!?!?! The bus actually wasnt that bad.  It was comfortable and the seats reclined almost flat, so we were able to sleep. But it did take several hours longer than expected, so our first day was kind of ruined.
The border crossing was pretty crazy! We had to get off the bus and go searching for someone to stamp our passports.  We could easily have crossed without getting stamped, but my parents had paid an arm and a leg for the stupid Brazilian visa, so we might as well get stamped anyway.  But we were almost stampeded by the thousands of motorcycle taxis taking people across the border.  It was insane!  They were like buzzing bumble bees all trying to squeeze through at the same time. 



We stayed on the Brazilian side in a nice hotel just outside the park entrance to the falls.  As soon as we checked in, we ran across the street to get in before they closed.  We were rushed through, but it was amazing!  We couldnt believe how the falls just kept going, and going, and going!  This was the only day of the trip that wasnt raining, so the weather was perfect.  The falls were absolutely gorgeous and so massive.  We had all been to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and these were much more impressive!




The next day was Mothers Day and the hotel gave everyone roses.  I was so happy to be spending this day with my mother.  We went over to the Argentina side of the falls that day.  It rained the entire day, so we didnt really get any pictures.  And had to wear ponchos the entire time.  This side is cool because you can walk right up to the edge of the falls and look over.  They call it Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat).

 The coolest part of that day was taking the boat ride through the falls.  Of course, no pictures, but we do have video that the company took.  They take you in a boat up the river, through the rapids and INTO the falls!  It is awesome!  We got drenched and it was crazy, but so much fun.  We would have done it again if we had more time.  Highly recommend to anyone that visits.

We had a wonderful visit with my parents.  The kids loved having them here.  Kinley would run to their room every morning and hang out with them while they got ready for the day.  She spent lots of time by the pool with my dad.  She was putting sunscreen on him one day and he told her to put it on his head where all of his hair is.  Her response... "Where?"  Hahahaha! 

Thanks for coming mom and dad!